Questions and Answers: On Standing Exercises as a Means to Cultivate Qi and Jing

Questions and Answers:
On Standing Exercises as a Means to Cultivate Qi and Jing

By Tu-Ky Lam

A. Zhan-Zhuang in General

Q. What is Zhan-zhuang and where does it originate?
Zhan-zhuang are standing exercises which have existed since the creation of martial arts. Most martial arts systems including Shao-lin, Xing-yi, Ba-gua, and Taijiquan have standing exercises to increase their strength. Because of secrecy (masters do not want their students to improve too quickly), ignorance, impatience, etc. standing exercises have not been treated seriously by Taiji practitioners.

Q. What are the benefits of doing Zhan-zhuang?
The benefits of doing zhan-zhuang are numerous. It can perfect your body alignment, connect you to the ground, increase your qi (bio-energy) flow, make your bones get denser, heavier and more solid. This will in turn greatly enhance your health and your internal strength and speed up the process of learning Taijiquan.

Q. Can I be good at Taijquan without doing Zhan-zhuang?
No. Without doing Zhan-zhuang, it is very difficult for you to get a good body alignment and be grounded. So you do not know your substantial and insubstantial. (Just spend 15 minutes a day on standing exercises. After six months you will know how much you have gained and how much you have missed out because of not doing it.) Besides your qi flow is weaker and you cannot feel your qi gather in your bones, and you cannot use Taijiquan for self-defense as you have no internal strength.

Q. Why do very few Taiji masters recommend doing Zhan-zhuang?
I have heard some people say zhan-zhuang is "dead stance" which can only make your legs stiff. Doing the Taiji form is like doing "living (or moving) stance" which can give you agility and internal strength so it makes standing exercises redundant. People who make this statement are either ignorant or trying to mislead their students. Zhan -zhuang is part of "gong" (exercises to increase strength) which many masters try to hide from their students. There is a saying "If I do not really want to teach you, then I will teach you 'quan' (routines) but not 'gong'. Or "If you are too busy to do both, then you can skip 'Quan' but you cannot skip 'Gong'."

Q. I have done standing exercises for more than six months without seeing any result. Why? How can I fix this problem?
The main reasons may be you are not relaxed and you have not got the posture right. When you start, first make sure that you flex you hip-joints and feel you are sitting on an invisible stool (or riding a horse) and your legs are firm. Then try to make your torso longer by lifting the top of your back and pulling in your chin as well as lifting up the top of your head. Making the torso long is very important as it helps to get your buttocks pulled in (without putting pressure on your lower back) and so connect the upper and the lower parts of your body together so you qi can flow and internal strength can develop. Most importantly, remember to relax.

B. "Embrace the Balloon" in a Small Horse Stance
(Called Health Stance in Yi-quan)

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Q. How many patterns or postures are there in Zhan-zhuang? What is the most important one? Can you describe it?
About 20 patterns. The most important pattern is the "Embrace the Balloon (or Tree)", where you stand upright like in the "Preparing Form" and then move your hands to the front of your shoulders with your palms facing yourself like holding a big balloon with your arms. (Photo 1) You will need to pay attention to the major points of torso methods mentioned before. The circle formed by your arms is an oblong shape with the elbows at the wider end. (If you move your elbows slightly to both sides you can feel your arms are connected; and if you move your elbows slightly to the front, you can feel your back is round.) Stand like this in a relaxed manner for five or ten minutes at the beginning state, then try to stand longer after a few weeks. You can stand as long as you like, say half an hour or an hour.

Q. What are the variations of "Embrace the Balloon"?
The variations are mainly in the hands. Your hands can be placed at different heights: low, middle, and high. You can place your hands at the level of you navel to start with, (the distance between two hands are the same as in the middle level and the high level) and then move them up to the height of your eye brows. (At the eye level you can easily feel the weight of your arms goes straight through to your shoulders, hips and your heels. Your arms get tired quickly.) When your arms get tired, you can move them down to shoulder level and let them stay there as long as you like.

At the shoulder level you can slowly turn your hands so that your palms face the ground (like gently pushing a piece of board into the water) with your fingers pointing to the front (Photo 2.) You can also make your palms face the front (like supporting someone so that he will not to fall on to you) with your finger tips pointing up. (Photo 3)

It is not a bad idea to try some (or all) of these variations when you feel bored, your body alignment not right, or your qi is stagnant.

Q. How do I make my qi (bio-energy) flow?
With your mind and mainly by visualization. First you need to maintain the correct body alignment (as described before) all the time and be relaxed. Then imagine that you are holding a big balloon in your arms. The balloon is getting bigger with more air in it. Although you are not moving, your visualization makes your qi move, which will make your arms (and even your chest and legs) expand accordingly. But you do not want the balloon to get too big, so you want to squeeze it in slightly. Again your visualization moves your qi, which in turn moves your body. So your qi moves with the expansion and contraction of the balloon. Remember the smaller the movement, the bigger qi flow.

Another way is to imagine there is a post (or a wall) 3 to 5 meters in front of you. You want to take the balloon there. After you get there you move it back to where you have started. As the balloon is light you can be relaxed and will not use force. This is also done in your mind, and you do not actually move. You will be amazed how your qi flows without moving. When you imagine you move the balloon forward, your qi is so strong as to move your body weight slightly forward to the ball of your feet. When you bring back the balloon, your qi will shift your weight back to the heel. Remember this is done by your qi not your force.

Q. What should my mind do when I am standing?
Use your mind to maintain the correct posture and then visualize something like what is just mentioned before to make your qi flow. Slowly your visualizations will go vague, and your mind will enter the stage of emptiness - now you reach a higher level of standing exercises. You think of nothing but just relax and enjoy the tranquility of the universe. This is like meditation. It can bring you peace in your mind and make you feel you are wiser as you mind is clearer and sharper.

C. "Embrace the Tree" in a Reverse Bow Stance
(Called Fighting Stance in Yi-quan)

Q. Are there any other patterns that I need to know?
The patterns mentioned above are the first level, good for body alignment, health and fitness. If you want to improve your qi flow and increase your internal strength you will need to do another pattern in a higher level. But you are required to have done the patterns in the first level for at least 100 hours (e.g. an hour a day for 3 months; half an hour a day for 6 months) before you can practice the new pattern. At the end of the first level, you are very relaxed and have a lot of qi flow. You feel your whole body is connected. When you practice the routine, your good body alignment shows up as well. This is a sign you are ready for the next level of training.

Photo 4

Q. How do I go about doing this new pattern?
Start with the "Embrace a Balloon" pattern, where your feet are at shoulder width and parallel with each other with your hands in front of your shoulders like embracing a balloon. Turn left 45 degrees with your left foot pointing half-way between the front and the left. Shift your weight to left leg and move your right foot one small step to the front (slight to the left with the toes pointing to the front). This is like a reverse "bow stance" with more weight on your rear leg (70%) but the stance is a lot higher as your knees does not bend much.) Sit back on your rear leg (by bending your knees and flexing your hip joint) so that you feel your rear leg is supporting your upper body. Then lift the top of your back and your head up to lengthen your torso. (If you get this posture right you will feel your energy move from your foot to the top of your head along this support line.) Finally, your adjust your hands slightly. Make sure your right hand is directly above your right foot and is higher than your shoulders. Lower your left hand slightly so that it is in front of and also higher than your left breast. (Now Your right hand is higher than your left hand. If you bring your fingers and thumbs together to make fists, you are in a fighting posture.) Both your arms are round like holding a big oblong balloon (Photo 4).

In short, this is like doing "Embrace a tree or balloon" facing to one side instead of the front. With the weight distribution 70% on the back leg and 30% on front leg, it is very physically demanding for first timers. Have a break when you feel tired. You will also need to do the same on the right side with your left foot in front.

Q. What else is important?
Balancing the six directions in your posture, moving your qi and breathing.

Q. How do I balance the six directions?
The six directions are: top, bottom, left, right, front and back, of which the most important ones are top and bottom. We balance the top and bottom by lifting up the top of our head and the top of our back to make our torso longer and flexing our hip-joints and bending our knees to make ourselves connected to the ground. Then we move our elbows to both sides to balance our left and right. Finally we make our back hip stay back and our front knee move slightly forward to balance our front and back. (Use your rear hip to move your front knee very slightly forward.) So you can see that everything is going in opposite directions.) The balance of our six directions in this way helps to create an energy field for our qi to flow.

Q. How to we make our qi flow?
By visualization. We imagine we are holding a tree, and we try hard to squeeze the tree to make it smaller. We squeeze not only with our arms but also our torso and our legs. Then we try to pry open the tree with our whole body. At the beginning stage you can move slightly (about one or two centimeters). At a later stage you move very little (only shift your weight slightly), as you do it in your mind. You will experience how your qi moves your body.

The next visualization is that you imagine you try to pull the tree up, and then plunge it down. Again move slightly to experience how to go about the task, and later on do it in your mind with only slight weight shift.

The third visualization is that you imagine you try to bring down the tree by pushing it forward with your whole body (arms, chest, belly, and legs) and then pushing it backward. You can also push the tree to the left and then to the right. Do these with small movement first then do them in your mind. For the visualizations to succeed, you mind will have to really want to squeeze the tree and pry it open; pull it up and plunge it down; push it forward and backward, etc.

Note: If you feel your muscles (or even the whole body) tense up all the time when you try to pull the tree up or plunge it down, etc. it is a sign you are not ready for using these visualizations. Use the following visualization instead.

Imagine you are holding a balloon. You want to squeeze the balloon slightly with your arms, chest, waist and legs. Then let the balloon expand or you can pry open the balloon. Another visualization is to sit back slightly on your back leg to bring back the balloon and then move the balloon slightly forward. As the balloon is light, your tension should disappear.

Later on imagine you are squeezing or moving a rubber ball, then a wooden ball. After a few months when you are more relaxed, you can pull, plunge or push the tree to increase your internal strength.

TO AVOID INJURIES, PLEASE STOP IMMEDIATELY IF YOU FEEL TIRED, DISCOMFORT OR PAIN. (These problems are mainly caused by using force or incorrect posture.) You can practice again the next day.

Photo 5

Photo 6

Q. Are there any variations for this?
Yes. Stand in exactly the same posture. You can turn your hands so that your palms face up (finger-tips pointing to the front), imaging you are holding a big paper ball (later on wooden ball and iron ball). You can also turn your hands so that your palms face the ground, imaging you are fighting with someone and your thumbs and fingers are like ten little spears ready to thrust at your opponents. Your body is ready to take on the kicks and punches from your opponent (Photo 5).

Another variation is that you can turn your hands so that your palms face the front with the finger tips pointing up (Photo 6). Imagine you are holding a balloon in your hands. You want to move the balloon forward and then backward. Your qi will move forward and backward with your visualization.

You can also flex your wrists to make your fingers point down with your left palm facing right and right palm facing left. Imagine your hands are tied by elastic strings to a wall. You want to pull your hands back. Then you want to thrust your fingers at the wall.

Q. Are there any more standing exercises?
Yes. At the 3rd level, you will need to do zhan-zhuang in a low stance. Use the previous pattern (with your palms facing yourself) but with a wider and lower stance (your hips should not go lower than your knees). Instead of imagining you are pushing a tree, pulling it up or plunging it down (you can still use these visualizations if you like them), you imagine you are sitting on the back of a tiger and you are holding the tiger's neck with both hands. The tiger is jumping up and down, running left and right, and you need to move with it and have control of it. This pattern is called "Tame the Tiger."
The last pattern is the "Embrace the Balloon on One Leg".
Start with the back-weighted "Embrace the Tree". Stand on your left leg and lift your right knee up to the height of your navel with the toes of your right foot pointing northeast (suppose you stand facing north), and your right heel pointing southwest. Imagine three elastic strings are tying your wrists and your right ankle to the back of your neck. You want to kick someone or something with the bottom of your right foot. You will probably last half a minute to start with, but you should be able to stand a lot longer with your practice.

These two pattern are very physically demanding even for experienced practitioners. Do one or two minutes at a time and then extend the time if you can. They will greatly increase your internal strength. (But do not exhaust yourselves.)

So you can see there are a lot to learn in standing exercises. If you have gone through all the 3 stages of training (in standing exercises), the reward will be great. You will be a good Taiji practitioner who has good body alignment (structure), and great internal strength (which can make you feel confident that you can use your Taiji skill for self-defense). You are very relaxed and can discharge power very quickly. More importantly it will take you to the highest level of Taiji training a lot faster than just doing the form.

Q. Are the patterns in the 3rd level better than those in the 1st level?
Not really. The three levels only indicate the different stages of your learning. You start from level 1, and then 2 and 3. A lot of masters prefer to the "Embrace the Balloon" to other patterns after they have learned all patterns in the 3 levels.

Taiji masters teach Taijiquan in three stages: First they teach the routines; second the torso methods and martial art's application; lastly methods to cultivate qi and increase internal strength. Most Taiji students learn only the routines. Some manage to get to the second stage and can benefit from doing Taijiquan. Only a very small number are lucky enough to learn the top secret of Taijiquan - how to build Qi and increase internal strength. These standing exercises will certainly fill the gaps and help you reach a new height in your skill as long as you get the body alignment right and spend time doing it every day.